Department of Health and Social Care

General Practitioners: Labour Turnover

Baroness McIntosh of Pickering: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they will take to retain General Practitioners working up until the age of retirement to stem the flow of GPs leaving the profession.

Lord Kamall: The updated GP Contract Framework announced a number of new retention schemes alongside continued support for existing schemes for the general practice workforce. The GP Retention Scheme provides financial and educational support to assist general practitioners (GPs) to remain in clinical practice where they are unable to undertake a regular part-time role and may otherwise leave the profession.The International Induction Programme provides a supported pathway for overseas qualified GPs who have not worked in general practice in the United Kingdom to be inducted safely into the National Health Service. The Return to Practice Programme provides a pathway for qualified GPs who have previously been on the General Medical Council’s GP Register and NHS England’s Medical Performers List to return to general practice after an absence of more than two years.The Primary Care Fellowship Programme guarantees the opportunity for every newly qualified GP and nurse entering general practice to receive funded mentorship, funded continuing professional development opportunities of one session per week and rotational placements within or across Primary Care Networks to develop experience and support the transition into the local workforce. The Supporting Mentors Scheme is a new national scheme which will offer an opportunity for highly experienced GPs to mentor newly qualified GPs entering the workforce through the Fellowship Programme.The New to Partnership Payment is available to those GPs without partnership experience who are offered partnerships, in addition to other professional groups such as nurses and pharmacists. New partners will benefit from a £3,000 business training allowance and a guaranteed one-off payment of £20,000 to support their establishment as a new partner.

Visual Impairment: Older People

Lord Low of Dalston: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to raise awareness of common eye conditions that affect elderly people, such as geographic atrophy, among clinicians and patients.

Lord Kamall: Regulated healthcare professionals are required to maintain their clinical knowledge through continued professional learning as part of their registration to practice.In 2022, NHS England has developed 28 eye care related videos for patients, which include information on age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma and cataracts. These videos are shared by clinicians with patients, including the elderly and some have been promoted on social media.NHS England provides online resources for clinicians and commissioners of eye care services through the Future NHS Eye Care Hub. The National Health Service also provides online information on a range of eye care conditions for patients and their carers, including age-related macular degeneration. The Department also participates in National Eye Health Week, to promote the importance of good eye health, the need for regular sight tests and the availability of free NHS sight tests for eligible groups, including those aged 60 years old and over

Coronavirus: Disease Control

Lord Farmer: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have plans to publicise findings from the SIREN study, and data from this and other studies about the protective effects against reinfection and serious illness of infection-acquired immunity (unboosted by vaccination).

Lord Kamall: Scientific papers and reports from the SIREN study are being publicised online through the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and in scientific journals. In addition, the study’s participant retention programme includes regular webinars, newsletters and videos to share its results and findings. On 22 July 2022, the UKHSA published SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern and variants under investigation in England Technical briefing 44 with data on trends in primary infections and reinfections. A copy of the technical briefing is attached.The Office for National Statistics’ COVID-19 Infection Survey publishes analysis on re-infections and the associated risk factors and symptoms. An updated assessment, Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection Survey, characteristics of people testing positive for COVID-19, UK: 20 July 2022. Characteristics of people testing positive for COVID-19 from the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection Survey, was published on 20 July 2022. A copy of the assessment is attached.Sars (pdf, 6749.0KB)Survey  (pdf, 727.7KB)

Hospital Wards: Gender

Lord Clement-Jones: To ask Her Majesty's Government what stage the review of single-sex accommodation in the NHS has reached; and whenthereportof that review is expected to be published.

Lord Kamall: NHS England is continuing its review of the guidance ‘Delivering same-sex accommodation’. The revised guidance will be published once the review has been completed.

Coronavirus: Databases

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the complete list of 'Purposes' currently active in the COVID-19 Data Store's National Data Platform, as defined by the 'Purpose-Based Access Control' feature in Palantir’s Foundry software.

Lord Kamall: A copy of the ‘purposes’ and the associated work areas or ‘capabilities’ contained in NHS England’s COVID-19 Data Store National Data Platform is attached, due to the size of the data.Table (xlsx, 23.3KB)

Ministry of Justice

Prisons: Reform

Lord Laming: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report by the Prison Reform Trust Prison: the facts, published on 15 July; and what steps they will take in response.

Lord Bellamy: The Prison Reform Trust’s report raises a number of issues on which encouraging progress is being made, including work on the Prisons White Paper commitments.This includes addressing retention of prison officers, and from October 2016 to March 2022, the number of band 3-5 prison officers increased by over 4,000. The most recent pay award provides at least a 4% base pay increase for all prison staff between Operational Support Grade and Governors (Bands 2-11).We are creating a more resilient estate by both building additional prison places and undertaking refurbishments. This means investing £3.8 billion to deliver 20,000 additional, modern prison places including 2,000 temporary prison places across England and Wales. We are also investing £37 million to deliver improvements to prison safety, as well as investing a further £120 million in tackling substance misuse over the next three years to get more offenders engaged in treatment.In March, we completed our £100 million Security Investment Programme which will enable us to tackle efforts to undermine prison stability.There is also a range of projects addressing the diversity of needs among the prison population. This includes developing further support for neurodivergent prisoners by introducing additional staff roles or screening tools as well as developing a strategy supporting older prisoners.We are continuing to work with Governors across the estate to ensure we are restoring services effectively whilst addressing any backlogs created during the pandemic.

Coroners: Standards

Baroness Hodgson of Abinger: To ask Her Majesty's Government whetherthere is a backlog for holding inquests as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic; and if so, how this varies across the regions of the country.

Baroness Hodgson of Abinger: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether there is abacklog for inquests in the Isle of Wight; and if so, what steps they are taking to clear that backlog.

Baroness Hodgson of Abinger: To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the average time it takes from death to holding an inquest, where necessary.

Baroness Hodgson of Abinger: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the experience of families waiting for an inquest to take place; and what bereavement support they are providing to these individuals.

Lord Bellamy: The Coroner Statistics 2021: England and Wales, published on 12 May 2022, indicate that, on average in 2021, the time between the report of a death to the coroner and the completion of an inquest increased to 31 weeks (up from 27 weeks in 2020), although almost a third of coroner areas completed inquests within 24 weeks. Figures are also published by coroner area: for the Isle of Wight coroner area, the average time for completion of an inquest was 56 weeks (from 40 weeks in 2020).Coroner services are locally based and funded and administered by the relevant local authorities. The Government recognises that local authorities have experienced a number of pressures as a result of the pandemic. During 2021, coroners dealt with both the impacts of the early stages of the pandemic and the ongoing effect of Covid, including a second lockdown and continued social distancing measures which, in particular, affected the ability to hold jury and other large and complex inquests.We have provided £6.15 billion in unringfenced grant funding to local authorities in England to support the cost of pandemic pressures which could include additional costs incurred in the administration of coroner services. Funding for local authorities in Wales is a devolved matter. The Chief Coroner has issued guidance to coroners on how their services can best recover from the pandemic, including engagement with local authorities on any additional resources required. He is also undertaking a tour of all coroner areas to engage with them on their post-pandemic recovery plans.In addition, we included a package of measures in the Judicial Review and Courts Act 2022 to streamline coroners’ court processes and support the coronial system with post pandemic recovery plans.The Government’s priority is to ensure that the bereaved remain at the heart of the coroner system. In January 2020, we published a revised Guide to Coroner Services for Bereaved People which provides support and information for the bereaved about what they should expect from coroners’ investigations and inquests, and includes information on sources of bereavement support. The Guide is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guide-to-coroner-services-and-coroner-investigations-a-short-guide.

Ministry of Defence

Aircraft Carriers

Lord Empey: To ask Her Majesty's Government when they expect the Royal Navy’s two aircraft carriers to have a full complement of aircraft.

Baroness Goldie: The composition and size of an embarked air group in a deploying Queen Elizabeth Class (QEC) carrier will be specifically tailored to meet the operational requirement.The QEC carriers have been designed to be able to embark 40 aircraft, a mix of fixed wing and rotary wing, with both currently cleared to operate a spectrum of Ministry of Defence aircraft.

Aircraft Carriers

Lord Empey: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Royal Navy’s two aircraft carriers can be reconfigured with catapult launch capability.

Baroness Goldie: Both Queen Elizabeth Class carriers could be reconfigured to operate a catapult launch system. They were built to allow for capability changes over the lifespan of the ships.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Farmers: Advisory Services

The Lord Bishop of Exeter: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the Thrive initiative run by Devon County Council, which offers farmers up to three hours of free advice from a farm consultant; andwhat plans they have to encourage the roll out of this scheme in other areas.

Lord Benyon: The Thrive initiative is not funded by Defra but where possible we will consider any learning that it, and other similar programmes, can provide to inform our future plans. We are due to launch the third phase of the Future Farming Resilience Fund (FFRF) which provides free expert advice to farmers and land managers in England during the early years of the agricultural transition. It does this by awarding grants to organisations who, in turn, help farmers and land managers to: - understand the changes that are happening;- identify how, what and when they may need to adapt their business models;- access tailored support to adapt. Defra has awarded grants to 17 organisations to provide delivery of the next phase of the FFRF. The support will be available from October 2022 until March 2025.

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

Families

Lord Farmer: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay on 23 March (HL Deb col 955),whether the remit of the Children’s Commissioner’s Family Review includes action to prevent family breakdown.

Lord Harrington of Watford: The Children's Commissioner for England's independent review on family life explores how to improve the way public services understand the needs of children and families, so every child has the best start in life and the opportunity to reach their full potential.The review involves extensive engagement with children and families from different backgrounds and locations across England, to understand their lives and what they value in family life. It will look at families' experiences, how they seek and gain support and look to better understand the prevalence of familial breakdown and how best to support children and families going through this. The review will also engage with local services, communities and other key stakeholders.The Office of the Children's Commissioner aims to publish a report on the review by Spring 2023.

Northern Ireland Office

History: Northern Ireland

Lord Lexden: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to commission an official history of Northern Ireland from 1968 to 1998; and if they have any such plans, whether they plan to appoint a panel of historians to oversee the project.

Lord Caine: As announced alongside the introduction of the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill on 17 May 2022, the Government intends to commission an Official History relating to the Troubles in Northern Ireland. This will be conducted by independent historians with access to all relevant material in Government records, and with the purpose of providing an examination of the Government’s policy towards Northern Ireland during this time. The project will be steered by experts, who will make recommendations on scope and other important details. Further details will be announced in due course.

Treasury

Inflation

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask Her Majesty's Government whatplans they have to slow inflation in the short-term.

Baroness Penn: The Government understands that people across the UK are worried about the rising cost of living and are seeing their disposable incomes decrease as they spend more on the essentials. The Government has the ability and resolve to reduce inflation using three tools – independent monetary policy, responsible management of the public finances and supply side reform. These tools will boost our productivity and growth and help to bring inflation under control. The primary tool for combatting inflation is monetary policy, which is the responsibility of the independent Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), including decisions on Bank Rate and quantitative easing. Since the MPC were given independence over monetary policy, CPI inflation has averaged around the MPC’s 2% target. The Government remains fully committed to the price stability objective, as well as the 2% inflation target, and retains full confidence in the Committee. We have a responsibility to help those who, through no fault of their own, are paying the highest price for the inflation we face. However, we also recognise that it is not only the most vulnerable in society that are struggling, which is why we are providing financial support to all households and across a range of income groups. In May, the Government announced over £15bn of additional cost of living support, targeted at those with the greatest need. This package builds on the over £22bn announced previously, with government support for the cost of living now totalling over £37bn this year, equivalent to 1.5% of GDP.

Education and Health Services: Finance

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to increase budgets for regions in England as a result of pressures on the (1) health service, and (2) education sector.

Baroness Penn: The Autumn Budget and Spending Review 2021 (SR21) set out the government’s spending plans for the rest of this Parliament. This investment will support strong public services and be targeted where it will deliver improved outcomes and value for money for the taxpayer. The Department for Health and Social care will receive £188.6 billion in 2024-25. This funding will help to tackle the elective backlog, make progress on 40 New Hospitals and reform our adult social care system. The Department for Education settlement provides an £18.4 billion cash increase over the Parliament to £86.7 billion in 2024-25. The settlement provides significant investment in skills and supports the government’s commitment to level up education, through additional funding for schools and a package of support to recover lost learning.